Benjamin Gluck concentrates his practice on white collar criminal defense. He aggressively, creatively and successfully represents clients in a wide variety of federal and state criminal matters.

Benjamin devotes a significant portion of his practice to representing health care providers in state and federal criminal matters. He has extensive experience in the areas of grey-market medications and devices, physician-owned distributorships, improper referrals, over-prescribing, medical necessity, unlicensed practice and others. He has developed effective methods to challenge improper searches, seizures, and investigative tactics related to health care providers.

Mr. Gluck also practices in the area of complex civil litigation, including civil claims arising from allegations of health care fraud. He handles matters in state and federal courts and in arbitration.

Mr. Gluck has taught white collar crime at several local law schools. He is currently writing a book about conspiracy law.

Representative Cases

Achieved a complete dismissal of all counts of a 20 count criminal complaint against a doctor that the state has described as “Public Enemy No. One” of the Medi-Cal system. The complaint alleged millions of dollars in fraud but following a lengthy preliminary hearing, the Court found the state failed to establish probable cause and dismissed the entire complaint.

Won dismissal of the 21 most serious charges in a high profile grand jury indictment against two physicians, a chiropractor, and eight employees and associates of a workers compensation healthcare provider. Each of the 21 now-dismissed counts carried a potential life sentence. Prosecutors alleged the defendants “permanently disfigured” 21 workers compensation patients in the course of committing insurance fraud by allowing a Physician’s Assistant to conduct all or portions of surgical procedures. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office has described this case as the largest health care fraud in California history.

Successfully obtained a pre-trial dismissal of murder charges against the founder of a publicly traded company that runs substance abuse facilities. The case, which was prominently featured in local and national media, stemmed from a resident’s death at one of the company’s facilities in the state, and marked the first time in California history that murder charges were brought on such a theory of corporate liability.

Obtained dismissal of 89 out of 90 counts, including counts of insurance fraud and involuntary manslaughter, on behalf of client accused of allegedly masterminding a $100 million medical workers’ compensation fraud scheme. Mr. Gluck argued that the indictment, which had previously been amended, violated their client’s constitutional and statutory rights based on the grounds that it’s illegal to add additional counts to an amended indictment without returning to the grand jury. Furthermore, the grand jury never found probable cause, a requirement for a criminal defendant to be prosecuted for a felony. After obtaining an order from the California Supreme Court requiring the review of the Orange County District Attorney’s grand jury practices, the Court of Appeal granted Mr. Gluck’s writ petition, ultimately resulting in the Court dismissing all but one count.

Reached a settlement with the SEC in our representation of the co-president and COO of the second largest publicly traded health care company. Mr. Gluck defended the executive in allegations of $2 billion in False Claims Act violations, and securities and health care fraud. In addition, he defended the executive in the DOJ criminal investigation, which resulted in no charge, and achieved a favorable civil settlement with the SEC.

Advised and represented a major cancer hospital in an internal investigation triggered by billing practices of a doctor.

Preserved an oncologist’s practice at trial on claims of unapproved medication use. The government declined to offer a reasonable settlement and demanded our client receive eight years in prison. Mr. Gluck took the case to trial and achieved an outcome of straight probation with no cessation of practice. The doctor’s story is in development for a Hollywood movie.

Represented the country’s largest Internet pharmacy service provider. The government announced its intent to charge our client with 83 felony drug trafficking counts, which carried decades of prison time. Mr. Gluck made several persuasive presentations showing that the government’s theory was legally defective. The government dropped the threat and the matter was resolved for a single strict-liability misdemeanor and some community service. Afterwards, the National Federation of State Boards of Pharmacy and other government regulatory groups invited Mr. Gluck to give this same presentation to them.

Represented a licensed nurse at a skilled nursing facility who, along with twelve other nurses, was indicted and arrested on charges of felony elder abuse. The Attorney General’s Office had conducted five days of video surveillance of the nurses’ activities. Mr. Gluck crafted and presented a motion to dismiss, which was granted by the court, and charges against all twelve defendants were dismissed. The Attorney General’s Office re-filed the charges under a different theory but Mr. Gluck successfully convinced the Appellate Department to order those charges dismissed as well. This decision established new, favorable law for all providers in California and Mr. Gluck was invited to speak about it to various industry groups.

Defended a doctor charged with drug trafficking arising from his alleged prolific prescribing of opiate pain medicine. The sentence imposed was a fraction of what the government demanded and was criticized for its leniency by the Los Angeles Times. The government was so upset by the sentence that, in an exceedingly rare move, it appealed our result.

Represented a durable medical equipment provider who was arrested and charged with defrauding Medi-Cal out of more than $4 million. In presentations to the prosecutors, Mr. Gluck argued that his client’s conduct was within regulations. Based on these arguments, the prosecutors dismissed the fraud charges and allowed the client to settle a non-health-care-related misdemeanor and time payments of less than a tenth of the amount at issue.

Represented successfully a chain of kidney dialysis centers against qui tam allegations that the chain overcharged Medicare for drugs.

Defended claims of unlicensed and unapproved products / medications on behalf of oncologists, dermatologists, cardiologists and other medical specialists against claims of using unlicensed products, including “generic” Botox, Viagra, cancer medications, IUD’s, and other non-FDA certified products.

Defended West Coast branch of a company specializing in the international transportation of valuables, and accused of money laundering. The trial ended in a jury hung 10-2 for acquittal. Another defendant had previously been convicted in a trial in New York and received thirteen years in prison. Eventually, Mr. Gluck helped obtained a complete dismissal of criminal charges against his client.

Defended one of the largest merchant-side credit card processors in a claim arising from fraud allegedly perpetrated by one of its merchant customers. After quickly winning a motion to dismiss that substantially reduced the amount in dispute to approximately $6 million, we won a dismissal on summary judgment.

Successfully represented a national newspaper being investigated by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for improper disclosure of private medical records.

Defended a religious community in a tax, money laundering, and money remitting prosecution. After winning a motion to suppress a search, a settlement was struck on the eve of trial with the dismissal of all counts against four of the five organizations, and a mutually acceptable fine against the fifth.

14 Bird Marella principals have been recognized and selected by their peers for inclusion in the 2019 edition of Best Lawyers in America. Best Lawyers is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey in which more than 50,000 leading attorneys cast nearly 5 million votes on the legal abilities of other ...

Bird Marella Principal Benjamin Gluck recently obtained a complete dismissal of filed felony charges alleging that his client, a skilled nursing facility, had failed to comply with the mandated-reporter laws. The client came to Benjamin after being charged and Benjamin successfully convinced the California Attorney General’s office ...

Bird Marella is proud to announce the firm's 2018 Chambers & Partners USA rankings. Chambers is a primary arbiter of achievement in the legal profession, and this year Bird Marella maintained its status as a top litigation firm nationwide. The firm and lawyers are ranked in:
* Litigation: ...

Bird Marella attorneys Benjamin Gluck and Kimberley Miller recently secured a complete dismissal of all charges in a criminal complaint filed against a Director of Nursing and two other mandated reporters at a California long-term care facility who were charged with failure to report alleged elder abuse. ...

Bird Marella congratulates three principals on their most recent selection as a "Top 100" attorney. They are three of only nine white collar criminal defense attorneys in Southern California honored with this distinction: Terry Bird and Gary Lincenberg (both 5 time honorees) and

U.S. News – Best Lawyers® has ranked Bird Marella among the 2018 “Best Law Firms” in Los Angeles with a Tier 1 ranking in the practice areas of White Collar Criminal Defense, Commercial Litigation, and Trust & Estates. The firm also achieved a Tier 3 ranking in Environmental Law.
The U.S. ...

We are proud to announce our 2017 Chambers & Partners USA rankings. Chambers is a primary arbiter of achievement in the legal profession, and this year Bird Marella maintained its status as a top litigation firm nationwide with a Band 2 ranking in “Litigation: White-Collar Crime & Government Investigations,” ...

Speaker, “Ethical Issues for Healthcare Attorneys In The Land of Overpayment Disclosures, Provider Financial Relationships and HIPAA Violations,” American Bar Association, Emerging Issues in Healthcare Law Conference, San Diego, CA, February 2012

Presenter, Case Strategy: How to Investigate an Internet Pharmacy,” National Association of State Boards of Pharmacy, Baltimore, MD, May 2008

Presenter, “Fraud and Abuse Litigation: How to Help Clients Already in Trouble,” Los Angeles County Bar Association, Nuts and Bolts of Health Law, Los Angeles, CA, May 2006

Moderator, Aggressive Use of the Rules of Evidence to Gain Tactical Advantage: Views from the Bench, the Government, and the Defense,” ABA White Collar Crime Committee National Conference, San Francisco, CA, March 2006

Moderator, Playing Hardball: Tactics and Strategies During The Pre-indictment Phase of A White Collar Case, Los Angeles ABA White Collar Crime Young Lawyers Subcommittee, November 2005